Sunday 18 July 2010

Summer in the City
How to Take a Break from Life


The Baroque Façade
of the Augarten Palace

The chestnut tree-lined road, the palace with
the Viennese Porcelain Manufactury
all are well and good,
but not what you are lusting after
on a hot early summer's day?

You take one last peak over the garden wall,
back into the city,
but your senses are already being transported
back to the Late Miocene,
your brain busy deciphering the song
of the honey bees working the sage flowers.

Looking at the abundance of flowers around here,
you begin to understand why honey bees
refused to cross the Rocky Mountains
on their own!

With so much bounty right at home,
I too, like the bees,
would have to be carried west by ship
- slaves to a honey craving New World -
preceding the Governator to California
by one hundred and fifty years!

One more wall
to find the gate leading us
into the gardens,

where we can wave good-bye
to the world outside

for a few precious moments,
our feet hurrying along
under the protective cover
of row upon row of trees

to where shady respite
is offered
not only to bicycles,

but to men
as well!

Wo/men too!

A park bench
invites to sit and
take off your shoes,
open the paper
and read about what you
do not miss,
here, in paradise!

Lass die Seele baumeln!
Take a break from life!

For once, pretend
to be the world's
greatest sluggard,

take being a loafer
to the heights of art
where it deserves to be!

Let your mind
do the wandering,

into
sun-stroked
green infinity!

A wonderful weekend
to you all!


*

Photographed by Merisi
during lunch hour
around Palais Augarten
on Wednesday, May 20, 2009.
First published
May 2009

*


13 comments:

  1. I wish, my city have trees like this .

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  2. Merisi, as I have my breakfast and prepare to get myself off for another day at work, these gorgeous green pictures tempt me to abandon that work for a day of relaxing under a tree in the park.

    Perhaps tomorrow! xo

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  3. Anonymous18 July, 2010

    So relaxing and very lovely.
    To read under the trees!

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  4. Anonymous18 July, 2010

    So relaxing and very lovely.
    To read under the trees!

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  5. That purple/lavender color of the flowers is outstanding.

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  6. Ahhh, this is just so beautiful, Mersis! I had wanted to go to the Augarten last summer but ran out of time. Next time!!! (I want to see the place where many pieces by Mozart and Beethoven were premiered - it's somewhere in the Augarten!)

    Thank you for continuing to post your amazing photos - they never fail to brighten up my day!

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  7. I love the little surprises I get when I click on a photo to enlarge it.

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  8. Only since my trips to Paris have I really noticed trees, strange but true, as I don't think I have seen trees so straight or cut to perfection!

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  9. Green infinity would suit me fine...

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  10. "Wien, Wien, nur du allein. . . ."
    wo sonst koennte es so sehr schoen sein?

    I have had a 24hr three week holiday but where apart from Vienna could you get the same effect in one hour???'

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  11. What a wonderful ramble! A hammock beneath the trees sounds heavenly!

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  12. Wonderful post. Pics are wonderful though a few would make great infrared shots.

    Thanks for including the youtube links

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  13. Hi Merisi, the park looks very peaceful and a wonderful refuge from the hustle and the bustle of the city. Having experienced the summer heat of the Northern hemisphere, in Bulgaria last year in July, I now have an understanding of just how hot it gets up there.
    I have enjoyed my virtual visit to Vienna this morning, by catching up on your older posts.
    Have a wonderful day.

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